November Widow

by Ruth Lehrer

My neighbor is hiding

never leaving the hilltowns

only going to the dump

once a month surviving

on dry cereal

Her husband died last summer

before the snow and shooting

loss stranding her alone with the news

He might not have

agreed with her anyway

In the wake of the election

she scrawls crayon words of protest—

Trump You’re Fired—

sticks it on the blackberry brambles

near the pothole road

She locks her doors and

suspects the neighbors

She lost her hair from chemo

It never grew back.

* * * * *

Ruth Lehrer is a writer and sign language interpreter in western Massachusetts. She is the author of a poetry chapbook entitled Tiger Laughs When You Push. She is also the author of a 2017 young adult novel, Being Fishkill.